Tenant farmers oppose proposed Urea Card policy

The Andhra Pradesh Tenant Farmers’ Association has strongly opposed the State government’s proposed Urea Card policy, alleging that it would deprive tenant farmers of access to subsidised fertilisers and push them into deeper financial distress.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, association State president A. Katamayya and State general secretary P. Jamalayya criticised the government for allegedly targeting farmers instead of acting against traders and dealers involved in the black-market sale of fertilisers.

The leaders alleged that the proposed system of issuing urea cards only to farmers possessing land ownership passbooks and e-Crop registration would severely affect tenant farmers, who cultivate nearly 70 to 80% of the agricultural land in the State. They said most tenant farmers were unable to secure e-Crop registration as landowners often refused to provide passbooks or consent for issuing tenant identification cards.

According to them, the government had promised, after coming to power, to simplify the process relating to tenant farmer identification cards, but had failed to fulfil those assurances. They said tenant farmers were already excluded from several welfare measures, including Crop Cultivator Rights Cards (CCRC), institutional crop loans and schemes such as Annadata Sukhibhava.

The association leaders warned that denying subsidised urea to tenant farmers would force them to buy fertilisers at higher prices in the open market, placing an unbearable financial burden on cultivators already struggling with mounting debts and rising input costs.

They demanded that the State government immediately withdraw the proposed Urea Card policy and instead issue cultivation certificates to all genuine tenant farmers actively cultivating land through the Agriculture Department. They said subsidised fertilisers, including urea, should be supplied on the basis of these cultivation certificates without restrictions.

Warning of statewide protests, the tenant farmers’ leaders said the government must withdraw what they termed an “anti-farmer” policy and ensure justice to lakhs of tenant farmers dependent on agriculture for survival.